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"Until the Kingdom Comes," photographs by Simen Johan

The almost-life-size photo­graphs in Simen Johan’s “Until the Kingdom Comes” series seem natural, but something is a bit . . . off. The initial images are captured in zoos and farms (sometimes using taxidermy and road kill), but then they’re changed digitally (for instance, an old bison lies in a landfill). Johan says he intends to “confuse the boundaries between opposing forces, such as the familiar and the otherworldly, the natural and the artificial, the amusing and the eerie.” The images are on display at Brown University’s David Winton Bell Gallery, 64 College St, Providence. They say Johan’s work is “part of an existential search for spiritual or philosophical truth. He sees his animals not as personifications of humans, or as animals as such, but rather as part of the universal spirit that encompasses us all.” The exhibit runs through February 17 (Monday-Friday 11 am-4 pm, Saturday and Sunday 1-4 pm) | 401.863.2932 | brown.edu/bellgallery